Per-diem period ends for lawmakers

DES MOINES - Belt-tightening efforts at the Statehouse just got personal.

Legislators will be living on their own dime when they return to the Iowa Capitol building on Monday.

This past Friday marked the 110th day of the 86th Iowa General Assembly's 2015 regular session. That was the last day that the 150 part-time, citizen legislators received per diem taxpayer money to cover theirs daily costs for food, lodging and other living expenses incurred while they conduct the people's business under the golden dome in Des Moines.

The Iowa Legislature does not set a hard and fast deadline for adjournment. But the termination of daily expense payments have had the effect of pushing legislators reticent to reach agreements down the road toward compromise as farmers get antsy to get spring work done and other citizen lawmakers get anxious to return to their other jobs, fulfill travel plans or deal with family commitments and other obligations they expected to be able to pursue in May.

Per-diem payments, which are tied to the Oct. 1 federal rate, amounted to $148 this year for legislators who reside outside of Polk County and $111 for those in the Des Moines area - daily expense accounts that totaled $16,280 ($12,210 for Polk County legislators) for the 110 calendar days from Jan. 12 to May 1 as authorized by Iowa Code.

Those per-diem disbursements are on top of the $25,000 yearly salary paid to rank-and-file legislative members in the Iowa House and the Iowa Senate. Pro-tem leaders in both chambers receive annual salaries of $27,000 while top leaders in the House and Senate are paid $37,500 per year.

Those salaries have not been changed since 2006. State law prohibits lawmakers from raising their own pay so any salary boost that is approved cannot take effect until a new General Assembly is seated.

Lawmakers have three options for getting paid: They can have the payments spread over the full year in increments paid every other week; they can receive two-thirds of their yearly salary in biweekly increments in the first six months and then the remaining third from July to December; or they be paid in equal installments through the first six months of the calendar year, according to Iowa Senate Secretary Michael Marshall.

Each legislator also receives a $300 monthly allowance for 'expense of office” costs, such as postage, and a separate mileage reimbursement at 39 cents per mile for one round-trip per week from their hometown to the Statehouse in Des Moines based upon a calculation for each lawmaker, Marshall said.

Lawmakers assigned to an interim committee when lawmakers are not in regular session also may be reimbursed for mileage, lodging and other expenses such as meals for the day or days they are required to travel to Des Moines or some other location in Iowa to conduct their official duties as a member of an interim committee.

The Legislative Services Agency conducted a survey in 2014 and found legislative salaries in Iowa ranked fifth among seven Midwest states. The top pay was in Illinois, where lawmakers average $67,836 in yearly salaries, followed by Wisconsin at $49,943, Missouri at $39,915 and Minnesota at $31,141. Trailing Iowa legislators were their counterparts in Nebraska, who receive $12,000 in yearly salaries, and South Dakota at $6,000.

BY THE NUMBERS

' Number of legislators - 150

' Number of calendar days for this session so far - 112 (as of Sunday)

' Per diem payments for lawmakers outside of Polk County this year - $148

' Per diem payments for lawmakers in the Des Moines area this year - $111

' Total daily expense accounts for legislators outside Polk County - $16,280

' Total daily expense accounts for Polk County legislators - $12,210

' Top yearly salaries for rank-and-file legislators - $25,000